13 essential pieces of hiking gear

Outdoors bloggerGillian Scott is one of my favorite people. I love hiking, but I’m far from an expert on gear, so I twisted her arm into writing this guest post for me. (That’s her husband in the photo above).

My husband, Herb, and I carry a lot of gear when we hike, so I had to laugh when Naomi asked me to write a guest post for her blog. We are far from minimalists when we hit the trail.

Our packing process tends to go like this: Will I need a fleece? Maybe not. But if I need one and don’t have one, it would really suck. Fleece goes in the bag. Repeat with countless other items.

But hiking can be a simple (and cheap) way to get out and have a great day. Here’s what we would call the bare minimum for a safe day hike of 5 miles or less on a sunny summer day:

Water: Bring plenty. The farther you’re going and the hotter it is, the more water you’ll want. When you’re sweating a lot, you don’t want to ration what you drink. And don’t forget to bring water for the dog – not all trails have water sources available.

Food: Sandwiches, fruit, etc. Bring extra snacks if kids are coming along and be sure to stop often to rest and munch.

Gillian and her dog, Rocky, gear up for the trail.

Sunscreen

Hat

Bug spray

Toilet paper (biodegradeable, please)

Flashlight or headlamp, just in case

Backpack: A simple bookbag will do. We’ve seen people hiking with plastic grocery bags, but this seems like it would get uncomfortable pretty quickly

Map and compass: In case you wander from the trail.

First aid kit: At a minimum, this should have Band-aids, some blister pads and basic medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

Good shoes. You don’t need hiking boots for many shorter hikes. Whatever shoes you put on, make sure they’re comfortable and still have good grip. I understand you may not want new sneakers to get muddy, but old sneakers have probably lost a lot of tread and may not grip rocks well. Sandals and flip flops are really poor choices, leaving your feet open to injury from every thing from brambles to rocks to insects.

If you can, avoid wearing cotton. When cotton gets wet, it takes a long time to dry, which can quickly get uncomfortable and chilly on a windy summit and could potentially lead to hypothermia.

If the weather looks iffy, you’ll want to add rain gear: a poncho or nylon jacket. Bare minimalists can resort to garbage bags with holes poked through for their head and arms.

The list gets more complicated if you’re going into the High Peaks. Summits are higher and can be very windy, and the weather can change on a dime. Non-cotton sweaters and rain gear are always a good idea, no matter what time of year you go.

If you find you love to hike or want to get out more, you can start to invest in some gear. Hiking pants, hiking boots, trekking poles, daypacks, hydration packs … The list of gear is endless!

26 Responses

A small group of us old-timers (late 50’s-early 60’s) get together every so often and take turns picking a hike, usually within a 50-75 mile radius of the Capital Region. The first outing for one of us (the oldest), our friend Eddie, brought this huge backpack. As we ascended a mountain over in Connecticut, we let Ed lead the way and set the pace.

Every few hundred feet one of us would secretly slip a rock into the loose flap of his pack (initiation). Ed tried not to grumble about the ascent as he wanted to prove his mettle amongst us. Lots of huffin’ and puffin’ on his part, which we all enjoyed listening to. Once at the summit, he unloaded his pack and to his surprise, found all the rocks. Good laugh for all.

To our surprise, Ed had brought along a 70’s vintage boom box (can only guess the weight of that monster), a can of beer for each of us, and 3 bags of Oreos to split amongst us and whoever we encountered at the top. Ultimately, he turned it right around on us with his kindness. Boy did we feel small. Lesson learned.

@Zenzele: I’m guilty of not bringing everything on Gillian’s list with me when I go on short hikes, like Sleeping Beauty. But I love my hiking gear, too. You could definitely go more minimalist, but being under-prepared is just as bad (or worse) than being over-prepared.

Thanks for all of the information you posted. The only thing I disagree with is avoiding cotton clothing. Natural fibers allow the skin to breathe and sweat. Bring a great sturdy jacket, but keep the layers underneath natural.

We hike in Big Bear Lake, generally between 7,000 and 9,000 feet. We take B vitamins to aclimate to high altitude and stay very hydrated.

Compass and map – also – good tip. The hiking CADET keeps Red Fred in the shed so he can die safe at home in his own bed. Figuring magnetic north from an anlog watch using the hour hand pointed at the sun is a good one, too.

For those looking to start hiking, the Pine Bush has a lot of awesome trails that are in the 1-3 mile range. They make a great 1-2 hour hike on a sunny summer day.

The only thing on the list I disagree/contend with is the backpack – get a good one that is properly made, so you don’t give yourself back problems. Make sure you wear your bag correctly, so the weight is distributed evenly across the shoulders and back or you’ll regret it. School bags are nice and all, but for a full-size adult they may not sit properly.

Since I was writing the post for Naomi’s blog, I took it from a minimalist point of view. You can certainly invest in more gear — like gaiters to keep your boots and pants dry, or trekking poles for stability (great for those with bad knees), or a “real” daypack — but the idea was that those things are not strictly necessary to have a nice, safe and relatively easy day out on the trail. I certainly have all of those items myself, but I don’t use them on every hike and I didn’t have any of them when I first started hiking.
The gear Herb and I have now has been accumulated slowly over about 10 years of hiking… until about 4-5 years ago, I was using my old Tough Traveler bookbag from high school. But definitely, the more you hike, the better gear you’ll want, for comfort and durability.
I would like to re-emphasize the cotton issue, though. Retired forest ranger Pete Fish is known for saying that the best dressed corpse in the Adirondacks is wearing cotton. If you’re in the High Peaks or out in the winter or in cold or wet weather, don’t wear it.

@Jen: Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite hikes, too, and except for water, I don’t bring much with me. I actually hiked to the top once in Dansko clogs because I left my hiking shoes at home by accident. (Sorry, Gillian!)

Re: biodegradable toilet paper… It’s true, all toilet paper will degrade eventually. But TP designed for camping is thinner and breaks down more quickly. Paper like Charmin is thicker (woven?) and takes a lot longer to degrade.
Part of the decomposition process (as I understand it) is that it takes water… so if you’re hiking in an arid environment, you should pack out your used TP, no matter what kind it is, because it’s basically never going to break down. Stringent “leave no trace” folks do this all the time, but I haven’t quite made that commitment yet.
You can find Coleman brand biodegradable TP at Wal-Mart. I think the Marcal SmallSteps paper (made from 100% recycled material) also qualifies.

The “essentials” should not be a shopping list, but rather a survival lists.

The “essentials” should revolve around survival. You can survive 3 hours of exposure, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food, but only 3 minutes without hope.

So the first essential is something you leave at home – information about your expected route and return with a trusted person who will notify the proper authorities if you don’t return as expected. In every search and rescue time is of the essence. Knowing that help is on the way is one of the best forms of hope a person in distress can have.

The rest of the essentials are focused on helping you survive an unexpected night or more in the wilderness. The exact items are dependent on expected conditions. Basically, you have to stay dry, warm, and not overheated. Proper clothing and emergency shelter are the mainstays. Water and food aren’t necessary, but they help you stay warm, dry, and not overheated.

You don’t need a map and compass if you are lost, rather you need a map and compass to keep from getting lost. If you are truly lost it is because you don’t where you are and don’t know how to back on track. If you can use a map and compass or a gps to determine where you are and how to get back on track then you are not lost.

So take a map and compass, and if you have it a gps as well, but first learn how to use them. Without that knowledge they are just unnecessary weight. but take them to keep from getting lost, don’t expect them to magically transport back to safety.

Never venture into the woods unless you are prepared to spend and unexpected night. There is no such thing as packing for a “day hike.” There are hikes that start and end within a waking period as planned. But you should pack as if your life depended on being able to survive an unexpected night in the wilderness. It very well may.

On a recent backpacking trip with the Sierra Club in the Grand Canyon, we were issued toilet kits – 1 quart size ziploc bag containing a small roll of toilet paper, a small hand sanitizer, and a sandwich size ziploc bag to hold the used tp. After using that, I find I can no longer leave my tp behind. The double bagging eliminates odors, and it’s a quick and easy drop into the trash at home.

This isn’t totally NECESSARY but after the incident I had a few weekends ago, I would recommend bringing a good multi-use knife with PLYERS, especially if you have a dog and are hiking in porcupine country… which is basically everywhere around here. My dog got at a porkie while hiking and got about 100 quills in his face, mouth, tongue, nose, neck, etc. Without the plyers my boyfriend had in his pack, I don’t know how we would have survived. We were five miles from a road and there was no way that dog could make it if we didn’t pull the majority of the quills out, and we couldn’t have without the plyers, no question. So now I will always bring along a multi-use knife.

Rocky loves to hike, but he hates that pack. He walks with his tail down for about the first 15 minutes he has it on… then forgets it’s there. He got stuck trying to go between two trees because of it once… the look on his face was priceless.
Nogods is right in a way, but we don’t hike that way (as if we’re taking our life into our hands on every trip). I guess I would add to the list an emergency blanket – they’re about $4, lightweight, and can act as a tarp if necessary. We’ve even seen them used to make a stretcher. Leaving information with someone at home is a great tip, and one we often forget. Don’t forget to sign the trail register, either.

One last comment: If you’d like to hear a real expert talk about safe hiking, retired forest ranger Pete Fish will be lecturing at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 26 at the Adirondack Mountain Club’s High Peaks Information Center outside Lake Placid. It’s free and open to the public. He’ll be discussing “the preparation needed for safe and efficient backcountry travel. Pete will also talk about how to stay alive in an emergency and how to prevent one in the first place.”
For more information, you can call ADK at 523-3441.

When discussing the additional equipment available you mentioned hydration packs. I am just curious as to whether or not you have any particular recommendations for hydration packs when it comes to hiking. Do the larger hydration packs with lots of cargo space serve as a viable alternative to a separate backpack and water bottles in your opinion?

Mark, some people really love hydration packs. They can be really convenient – the tube comes out of the pack and over your shoulder and you don’t have to stop and grab a bottle to drink. Personally, I can’t walk and sip at the same time without spilling water all down my front.
That said, I’ve tried them and am not a huge fan. Their two big drawbacks are cleanliness – you need special brushes to wash them out properly or they get all funky – and visibility. You can run out of water and not know it until you’ve already sucked up the last drop. At least with a bottle you know when you’re down to your last few mouthfuls and can ration what you’ve got left. The two I had also leaked. For a while I found it worthwhile to drop the smaller reservoir in a plastic bag with some paper towels inside the pack and use it while cycling, since I also can’t bike and drink at the same time, but after a while I just gave up.
It’s been years since I used them – I actually just found the tubes while cleaning out my back closet. They look kind of gross and I doubt I’ll ever use them again. Maybe the materials and reliability has improved since then, but I’m sticking to my bottles.
Two big advantages of bottles – you can freeze them for hot hikes and it’s easy to pour out water to share with the dog.

hi – if anyone is interested, I designed a 5″x5″ table that can be mounted on a tree in about one minute for cooking and eating and would be happy to send you one to test for me. I use mine every time I go out hiking/camping in Alabama – especially when going with my kids. all I ask is you would compensate enough for materials and shipping. materials are about $12 and whatever shipping is to your location. I have a paypal account.